rosy3 said:
Out of interest bak, what is the opinion amongst Coburg people of the Richmond/Coburg partnership?
There are some that understand that the writing was
on the wall - and survival depended on an AFL club,
and there were others that didn't quite get this.
Over time, I think the latter have come around quite a
bit - but they still resent the Coburg identity being
eaten up by Richmond's identity. I mean, there are
still people who want to go back to calling them the
Coburg Lions? Petty, but they still want that.
I think you've posted you were a Coburg person before Richmond's involvement?
Used to go to A lot of Coburg games - it's within
walking distance... so why not support them? Originally
I'm a KangarooFlat man (they're on the bottom of the
ladder ???)
I wonder if they feel their identity has been taken over, or if they think they are still more Coburg than Richmond.
Amongst some there is still a definite perception that
Richmond are "taking" over. I don't personally hold this
view. Cleary wants to reinforce the "coburg" side of
things in ways that count to Coburg people and really
don't make a lot of difference to Richmond. Things like
the Jumper and theme song... petty in reality - but why
not keep people happy?
Would Coburg be strong enough to stand alone if Richmond was to go it alone?
I doubt it. Coburg have "been to the wall" several
times. It's very difficult to run a stand alone VFL team
(as it is to run an AFL reserves team). Hence many
VFL/AFL affiliations exist.
Coburg probably couldn't afford to be in the VFL -
perhaps a lower level comp? I dunno.
For me, It's just a bonus that Richmond affiliate with
Coburg (is that a valid expression?). I'd still be going
to both lots of games anyway... even if (for yuk sake
Coburg and Carlton affiliated).
Now, I think people should examine the probable real
reasons for the Bullants - Carlton saga. Rumour has it
that the Bullants were not happy with the fact that
Carlton players were getting senior Bullants games
when the Bullants players were more deserving. This
happened quite a bit... caused much friction...See, they
had an almost full list of VFL players... Coburg don't.
... that and someone stealing out of the lockers... ;D
It would be sad to see VFL clubs die while the stronger (subsidised? ) AFL clubs take over.
I agee.
Oh, and on Cleary - yes, he's a bleeding heart leftie
republican. But don't ever accuse him of not having
passion for Coburg. Look at his record.
On Richmond fielding their own reserves... well if they
can good luck to them - but remember it was crap last
time they did it (in recent times) they just can't maintain
such lists and it costs heaps of $ - a lot more than they
put into Coburg.
The idea is that the Richmond guys get to play in a
stable, consistent well performing team. It helps
their development. This year, Richmond have partly
stuffed this up because to have such a team - Coburg
rely on Richmond players who are SUPPOSED to be
better than VFL standard. That's not been happening.
Richmond's actions last year basically poisoned the
affiliation - for example - Coburg had the VFL coach
of the year - he wanted an assistant coaching job with
an AFL team - ie to test the waters so to speak.
Some *smile* at Richmond described him as a
"dime-a-dozen" coach. Look what we have now. I
rest my case. Other things like lack of communication..
promising to do certain things and not doing them...
all adds up. Part of these stuffups have probably
made Cleary and co cautious in their dealings with
Richmond. This was pre-Miller - and he understands
these problems.
